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Indigenous Career Development Consultant - Helen Slater
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''In order to know what you want to do, you have to know who you are.''
A short but poignant statement by Helen Slater which sums up one of the overriding aims of her role as an Indigenous Career Development Consultant.
When Helen is not busy attending meetings (where she provides advice on issues such as Indigenous employment, retention and career development as well as how to better engage with Indigenous people) and steering committees, she is channelling her energy into the research and promotion of Indigenous career development initiatives and programs.
Career development, a relatively new concept, especially amongst the Indigenous community, has meant that specific career development tools and resources have had to be developed for the Indigenous community. Helen says that conventional career counselling and career development protocols are deemed largely culturally inappropriate amongst the Indigenous community.
''Many Indigenous parents have not been exposed to career development or what it means, and as a result nor have their children. What''s a workplace, what''s a career development culture? There''s also a lack of understanding of one''s skills and how to use them,'' says Helen.
''We (the Indigenous community) still have a poor understanding about education. There are bad retention rates in school and employment. The biggest problem is that we don''t engage people where they''re at. It''s those issues Indigenous people walk in the door with, a lack of money for instance, that we (people involved in career development) have to deal with first.''
That''s where the significance of Helen''s role in the Indigenous community comes into play and where her two key projects have become of vital use.
The first of these, the Indigenous Career Development Network, provides support to others in the Indigenous community who are also promoting career development and lifelong learning and acts as a forum for those involved to stay in touch with key issues surrounding career development. The Network to date is comprised of representatives from Job Network, university and TAFE representatives, community-based organisations and Aboriginal Educators within schools.
The Network is particularly significant as it allows Helen to maintain her community links and, for those in the Network, it acts as a support mechanism and allows those involved to further promote their agencies and programs. Helen is proud of the fact that the Network continues to grow at a great rate.
Second on Helen''s project list is ''Guiding Circles'', an initiative that grew out of Canada and is designed as a self-assessment tool.
''Guiding Circles teaches you to gain life balance, it''s really about self realisation. One of the exercises involves young, Indigenous people looking at their connections, with themself and their elders, family, community, spirituality, even the land for instance, and how those connections impact on them as a person and how those connections are resources in terms of their own career development.''
Guiding Circles adopts a storytelling approach.
''By young Indigenous people telling other Indigenous people involved in career development a story about an event that''s happened in that young person''s life, those in career development are able to draw out the skills it took for that young person to make that event happen. Indigenous people are not accustomed to talking about themselves, that''s why we talk about events that have happened instead. Storytelling has another benefit. We are losing the ability to tell stories because many of our children are adopting other cultures so this helps reintroduce that into the community,'' says Helen.
Helen says that Guiding Circles has been very well received amongst the Indigenous community and allows one to see more readily their skills and abilities. Helen explains that it''s often not enough just to be told that one has certain skills.
''You need to see this for yourself and, in order to know what you want to do, you have to know who you are.''
But everything that Helen does today is really just an extension of what she has been doing throughout her work life. Prior to her current role, Helen was a program coordinator at Swan TAFE designing and developing programs for Indigenous people. Before that she was employed at Community Employment Services (CES) in a client-based role. She has naturally progressed to her current role through her work with Indigenous clients in various settings, both city and regional.
Incredibly content in her work role, Helen concedes that it is one that she never leaves. Whether it''s utilising the knowledge she has gained in career development to help her own children or when she steps outside her door, where her community regularly ask for guidance, Helen says that she''s proud to help where she can.
''I am a proud Noongar woman and I come from a long line of strong and proud Aboriginal men and women. I am also proud of the fact that I have been fortunate enough to represent Noongar people both nationally and internationally through my work and on a personal level.''
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Acknowledgements |
Content courtesy of Louise Allan-Johnson. |
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